WACO, Texas — Vanderbilt was two points from its first NCAA women's team tennis title on one court when a UCLA rally shifted the focus to Astra Sharma three courts away.
No big deal for the redshirt freshman from Perth, Australia. She just finished off her third straight three-set victory of the tournament to unseat the defending national champion.
The fourth-seeded Commodores clinched a 4-2 victory Tuesday night with Sharma's 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Chanelle Van Nguyen at No. 2 singles. Vanderbilt won the title 14 years after the school's only other trip to the finals, a loss to Stanford.